The formal dismissal of Comey is, in my view, the right thing to do. It should have been done earlier.I agree. Politicization of security and intelligence is not only unprofessional, it is dangerous for democracy. The Democratic Establishment is deeply involved in this and won't let it go. Another sign of a sclerotic "left."
Moon of Alabama
Trump Fires FBI Boss James Comey - It's About Time ...
b
Bonehead move on everyone's part. If Chump really was playing 4-D chess, don't you think he would have had the foresight to know that firing Comey would have only put more gas on the fire with all these Russia investigations. Seems like an act of pettiness without any thought to maintaining political capital to me, though he could be trying to please his fanbase with this move, making them think that he'd really go out and have HRC investigated.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you and Bernhard, but .... there could be political blowback. If Rosenstein appoints a special counsel for Russia-gate, that could keep the Russia witchhunt going for a long time, the opposite of what Trump wanted.
ReplyDeleteI have said all along that if Trump wants to survive he would need to do a Machavellian purge. Of course such a purge would be nasty and controversial. But what is the alternative?
Trump has no friends in Washington. His own party dislikes him, and would throw him under the bus in a heartbeat.
This was a change the subject move, ready made with a cover against democratic protests. Everyone keeps telling me there is nothing to this Russia thing, but Trump sure does act like a guy that's guilty.
ReplyDeleteObama should have fired Comey long before Hillary or "Russia!" or the Sally Yates espionage.
ReplyDeleteFair point Ryan, but it's only been done once before by Clinton. I am sure Trump could have exerted pressure on Comey to resign, and he could have waited, especially if there is no "there there" on this Russia thing, to do it. It looks bad, especially where Comey was supposed to testify on Thursday, and they opened a Grand Jury on Flynn. It makes people more curious, and more determined to get to the bottom of this.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with Obama, in addition to giving the bankers and the torturers a pass, was that he allowed and supported the politicization of intelligence and security. He was AWOL on a lot of dodgy stuff, or else on board with it.
ReplyDeleteI still think Trump has the bigger case of the Dunning-Kreuger effect than Obama. Obama was mainly clueless on certain matters, Tom.
ReplyDeleteThe Peter principle applies to just about everyone that accedes to the office of POTUS, and and the Dunning-Kruger effect applies to just about all of them in some respects.
ReplyDeleteA committee system like a politburo is probably superior to one person rule.
While the politburo selects a leader, the ideal is that the leader represents the face of the leadership organization rather than the dominant voice and decisions are taken by consensus after deliberation.
The US has a cabinet system but it depending on how POTUS chooses to use it, or not.
BTW, the way I read the Comey firing at this early point is that it was not entirely a Trump decision but rather heavily involved Jeff Sessions. If I were AG I would have requested that the president fire the FBI director for being out of line and ignoring the chain of command. Come got to bib for his britches and this is the problem with the Deep State. They think they know best.
ReplyDeleteThere's a reason there is civilian control of the military and intel services, and political control of the administrative bureaucracy. Without it, a democratic republic would be compromised, as the US has been.
Vice
ReplyDeleteAn Ex-FBI Agent Explains What's Next for the Russia Investigationn
Matt Taylor
The Duran
ReplyDeleteJames Comey: A Necessary Sacking/
Alexander Mercouris
Many more will have to be sacked before 'Russiagate' goes away...
ReplyDeleteMany more will have to be sacked before 'Russiagate' goes away...
ReplyDeleteThis is the Democrats' Benghazi investigation. They are not going to give it and will be agitating loudly about it at least until the midterms.
Just moar politics as usual.
@Tom and Bob
ReplyDeleteIt's all Democrats have.
Agree, Dan. They don't stand for anything.
ReplyDeleteI'd really hope they would actually follow through on their "threat" to unleash Medicare for All. I'm not kidding about that. They'd do something right by accident. They probably won't but I'd like to wonder what that would be like.
ReplyDeleteI'm guess I'm going to have to keep my sanity up for the midterms then. The question is will Trump even make it that long.
They stand for their big moneyed donors.
ReplyDeleteThey stand for their big moneyed donors.
ReplyDeleteRight. That's become obvious.
Democrats and Republicans stand for their moneyed donors, and Trump stands for his own moneyed interests. Who stands for the ordinary Joe and Jane?
ReplyDeleteWho stands for the ordinary Joe and Jane?
ReplyDeleteBernie Sanders and Jill Stein say they do and espouse policy aimed at this.
But so did Trump.
The bipartisan elite is aligned against that ever happening.